The iconic Plasco building in the Iranian capital caught fire and after several hours collapsed in just seconds, trapping firefighters.

#plasco#Fire and building collapse. The mixed residential,commercial (garment factories), and shopping centre caught fire this morning (January 19) at about 8 a.m. The17 story high-rise building was erected in 1962 by the founder of the Plasco plastics company Habib Elghanian. The building caught fire this morning (January 19) at about 8 a.m. and subsequently collapsed.

Plasco fire

The fire originated on the 9th floor according to en.Wikipedia and a large number of residents, as well as garment workers on factory floors and shoppers, were in the building at the time the fire originated.

Some reports are that as many as 33 firemen out of the ten responding fire companies were killed when the building collapsed which was quite rapid as seen on this YouTube video.

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After several hours of fighting the fire the building collapsed in a few seconds.

Killed and injured

Although the original government reports originating with the city mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf’s office but other reports on twitter and elsewhere on the Web indicate that some residents were seen sneaking back into the burning building to retrieve property or perhaps seek relatives so it is likely that some civilians were killed - that won’t be known completely for days.

Approximately 80 people are known to have been injured in the fire and subsequent collapse of the north side of the building with many transported to hospitals, several hundred according to many reports.

A twitter from @rezahakbari showed lines of people waiting to donate blood for victims of the fire and building collapse.

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